1. Field of the Invention
This document relates to an integrated device which can peel a protective film from a board assembly and mount the board assembly on a backlight unit.
Furthermore, this document relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device which can perform both film peeling and mounting by using the integrated device.
2. Background of the Related Art
An active matrix driving type liquid crystal display device displays moving pictures by using a thin film transistor (hereinafter, “TFT”) as a switching element. This liquid crystal display device is small-sized compared to a cathode ray tube (CRT), and hence is rapidly replacing a cathode ray tube (CRT) by being applied to televisions, as well as displays of mobile information devices, office machines, computers, etc.
A liquid crystal display device includes, as shown in FIG. 1, a board assembly BA and a backlight unit BL.
The board assembly BA includes a liquid crystal panel sandwiched between an upper glass substrate and a lower glass substrate, polarizers attached on top and bottom surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel, a TCP (Taper Carrier Package) for connecting source and gate drive integrated circuits (ICs) to data lines and gate lines of the liquid crystal display panel, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and flexible printed circuits (FPCs) connected between the PCBs.
The backlight unit BL is an assembly of a light source, a reflection sheet, a light guide plate, a diffusion sheet, a prism sheet, a mold frame, an inverter, etc. The light source may be a lamp, such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) and an external electrode fluorescent lamp (EEFL), or a light emitting diode. The inverter is a power driving circuit for turning on the light source.
The board assembly BA is mounted on the backlight unit BL in a film peeling and mounting process. In the film peeling and mounting process, a lower polarizer protective film 11 attached on the lower surface of the panel of the board assembly BA is peeled, and then the board assembly BA and the backlight unit BL are aligned and the board assembly BA is mounted on the backlight unit BL.
A film peeling and mounting device as shown in FIG. 2 carries out the process in the order of conveyance of the board assembly BA, peeling of the lower protective film of the board assembly BA, feeding of the board assembly BA, alignment of the board assembly BA and the backlight unit BL, and mounting of the board assembly BA on the backlight unit BL. This film peeling and mounting device is advantageous in reducing the process time because a process of peeling the lower polarizer protective film from the board assembly BA and then feeding the board assembly BA and a process of feeding the backlight unit BL to a mounting position are separated, but the device is large-sized and complicated. Further, the film peeling and mounting device shown in FIG. 2 has a problem that since the standby time of the board assembly BA is lengthened before the board assembly BA is mounted on the backlight unit BL, the board assembly BA may be contaminated by impurities, thereby increasing the probability of defects of the board assembly BA. The arrow in FIG. 2 is a feeding path of the board assembly BA.
The film peeling and mounting device shown in FIG. 3 carries out the process in the order of feeding of the board assembly BA, peeling of the lower protective film of the board assembly BA, alignment of the board assembly BA and the backlight unit BL, and mounting of the board assembly BA on the backlight unit BL. While this film peeling and mounting device has an advantage that impurity defects of the board assembly BA are small because the device is relatively small in size and mounting is performed immediately after film peeling, it is difficult to reduce the processing time since the film peeling process and the film mounting process are continuously performed in 1 cycle. The arrow in FIG. 3 is a feeding path of the board assembly BA.